Seven Churches (album)

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Seven Churches
Studio album by Possessed
Released October 16, 1985
Recorded Late March/early April 1985
Genre Death metal
Length 38:03
Label Relativity/Combat (U.S.)
Roadrunner (Europe)
Producer Randy Burns
Possessed chronology

Death Metal
(1984)		 Seven Churches
(1985)		 Beyond the Gates
(1986)
Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
About.com (favorable)[1]
Allmusic [2]
Spin (favorable)[3]

Seven Churches is the debut album by American death metal band Possessed. The title of the album refers to the Seven Churches of Asia mentioned in the Book of Revelation. "The Exorcist" begins with producer Randy Burns' version of Mike Oldfield's Tubular Bells, arranged and performed as it was in the 1973 horror film of the same name. About.com ranked the album first in its list of "10 Essential Death Metal albums".[1]

Background

According to David Konow's Bang Your Head: The Rise and Fall of Heavy Metal, the album was recorded during the Spring Break of 1985 when Pinole Valley High School juniors Becerra and LaLonde had ample time for studio production.[4] Up until the release of the album, the band had practiced at manager Debbie Abono's house in Pinole,[4] but had formed in the El Sobrante/San Pablo area, which was the location of Torrao's and Sus' garage band.

In November of the same year, the band flew to Montreal, Canada for the WWIII Weekend Festival in support of the Seven Churches release, playing alongside Celtic Frost, Destruction, Voivod and Nasty Savage; the concert was Possessed's first and largest arena appearance, with nearly 7,000 in attendance.[5]

Legacy and impact

While Florida's Death had released more albums and is also cited as an enduring death metal progenitor, Seven Churches pre-dated the latter band's 1987 debut, Scream Bloody Gore by two years. In regards to Seven Churches, Italian music journalist Piero Scaruffi noted that although "the cradle of the (death metal) genre was truly Florida", it was Possessed who "coined" the death metal term.[6] Specifically, the book Choosing Death: The Improbable History of Death Metal and Grindcore credited bassist/vocalist Jeff Becerra as initially creating the term in 1983.[7]

Seven Churches has been interchangeably described as "connecting the dots between thrash metal and death metal",[2] being "monumental" in developing the death metal style,[8] and as being the "first death metal album",[9][10][11][12][13] the latter attributed to interviews with (or literature by) musicians including Kam Lee (ex-Mantas/Death, ex-Massacre), the late Ronnie James Dio (ex-Dio, ex-Black Sabbath) and Steven Wilson (Porcupine Tree, Opeth). Former Napalm Death drummer Mick Harris said his introduction to metal was Possessed's Seven Churches album, a personal recommendation to him by then-guitarist Justin Broadrick.[14]

In its July 1986 review of Seven Churches, SPIN described the album as belonging to the "sub-mutated genre of death-metal" and being a "full-on Japanese-commuter-train-without-brakes of what this genre should sound like...bassist/vocalist Jeff Becerra regurgitates what have to be the most Stygian vocal utterances to date."[3]

U.K. extreme metal record label Earache Records stated that "....the likes of Trey Azagthoth and Morbid Angel based what they were doing in their formative years on the Possessed blueprint laid down on the legendary Seven Churches recording. Possessed arguably did more to further the cause of 'Death Metal' than any of the early acts on the scene back in the mid-late 80's."[15]

Track listing

No. TitleLyricsMusic Length
1. "The Exorcist"  TorraoTorrao 4:51
2. "Pentagram"  BecerraTorrao 3:34
3. "Burning in Hell"  BecerraTorrao 3:10
4. "Evil Warriors"  BecerraTorrao 3:44
5. "Seven Churches"  BecerraTorrao, LaLonde 3:14
6. "Satan's Curse"  TorraoTorrao 4:15
7. "Holy Hell"  BecerraTorrao 4:11
8. "Twisted Minds"  BecerraTorrao 5:10
9. "Fallen Angel"  BecerraTorrao 3:58
10. "Death Metal"  BecerraTorrao 3:14
Total length:
 38:03

Personnel

  • Jeff Becerra − vocals, bass
  • Larry LaLonde − guitar
  • Mike Torrao − guitar
  • Mike Sus − drums
  • Randy Burns − keyboard on tracks 1 and 9

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Schalek, Dave. "Essential Death Metal Albums". About.com. Retrieved December 13, 2013. 
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Rivadavia, Eduardo. "Possessed: Seven Churches". AllMusic. Retrieved December 13, 2013. 
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Rankin, Judge (July 1986). "Possessed: Seven Churches (Combat)". Spin. ISSN 0886-3032. 
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Konow, David (2002). Bang Your Head: The Rise and Fall of Heavy Metal (page 234). Three Rivers Press. ISBN 0-609-80732-3. 
  5. ↑ Christe, Ian (February 17, 2004). Sound of the Beast: The Complete Headbanging History of Heavy Metal (page 142). It Books. ISBN 0-380-81127-8. 
  6. ↑ Scaruffi, Piero (October 15, 2003). A History of Rock Music: 1951-2000 (page 277). iUniverse. ISBN 0-595-29565-7. 
  7. ↑ Peel, John; Mudrian, Albert (2004). Choosing Death: The Improbable History of Death Metal and Grindcore. Feral House. ISBN 1-932595-04-X. 
  8. ↑ Purcell, Natalie J. (2003). Death Metal Music: The Passion and Politics of a Subculture (page 54). McFarland & Company. ISBN 0-7864-1585-1. 
  9. ↑ McIver, Joel (2008). The Bloody Reign of Slayer. Omnibus Press. ISBN 1-84772-109-5. 
  10. ↑ Ekeroth, Daniel (2008). Swedish Death Metal (page 12). Bazillion Points. ISBN 978-0-9796163-1-0. 
  11. ↑ Peel, John; Mudrian, Albert (2004). Choosing Death: The Improbable History of Death Metal and Grindcore (page 70). Feral House. ISBN 1-932595-04-X. 
  12. ↑ Dio, Ronnie James; Bukszpan, Daniel (October 1, 2003). The Encyclopedia of Heavy Metal (page 88). Sterling Publishing. ISBN 0-7607-4218-9. 
  13. ↑ Wilson, Steven; Wagner, Jeff (December 1, 2010). Mean Deviation: Four Decades of Progressive Heavy Metal (page 161). Bazillion Points. ISBN 0-9796163-3-6. 
  14. ↑ Mudrian, Albert (July 14, 2009). Precious Metal: Decibel Presents the Stories Behind 25 Extreme Metal Masterpieces (page 59). Da Capo Press. ISBN 0-306-81806-X. 
  15. ↑ "Interview with Jeff Becerra". Earache.com. Retrieved December 13, 2013. 
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